Lou Frey Papers
Scope and Contents
Series I: Pre-Congress and Personal, 1947-1976 mainly documents Lou Frey's political activities before he entered Congress. These materials show Frey's activities in the Republican Party in the years before his election to Congress, and the 1968 election itself is well documented here. A few materials show a little about his family especially his parents. Some photographs show his wife and children.
Series II: Congress, 1966-1999 shows Frey's work in Congress and the elections in which he was involved. Frey fought and won four congressional elections and then ran for Governor of Florida while he was in Congress. Congressman Frey successfully passed a bill legislating standards for mobile home construction; his work is documented in the subject files subseries. Subject files also highlight his committee work, elections and the Watergate scandal. When Frey was named by Time magazine as one of the top two-hundred rising leaders in the United States, he received congratulatory letters and attended a conference organized by the magazine. Extensive correspondence files form a large subseries and include personal and political correspondence as well as letters from Presidents and White House staff. Frey was very active in sports especially baseball playing short stop for the congressional team. A baseball card was printed showing him with Willie Mays, which may be found with the sports photographs. Several photographs show the construction of the Naval Regional Medical Center in Orlando; one includes Frey at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Series III: Post Congress, 1971-2006 chronicles Lou Frey's activities since he left Congress. These are an eclectic mix of materials that include such topics as: a celebration honoring Frey's 25 years of public service, his support of his Alma Mater, information on various aspects of Congress, and the I4 corridor. Election materials record his bid to become a senator in 1980 and Governor in 1986. A large group of files documents Frey's work in the Association of Former Members of Congress. His involvement with the Florida Energy Commission and the Millennial Housing Commission is also well described here. Frey comments on politics for both television and radio and the video and audio cassette tapes for these programs are held here. Photographs in this series include images of Frey alone, with others, and other politicians and individuals at events.
Dates
- created: 1947-2006
Conditions Governing Access
The entire collection is open for research except for Mr. Frey's diaries which are closed until August 31, 2006.
Conditions Governing Use
Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder
Biographical or Historical Information
Lou Frey was born in Rutherford, New Jersey in 1934. After he graduated from Colgate University in 1955 with honors in English, he served in the US Navy in Airborne Early Warning Squadron 14 in the Pacific until 1958 and continued to serve in the US Naval Reserve. He married Marcia Turner in 1956; they eventually had five children. After receiving his law degree from Michigan Law School in 1961, Frey moved to Central Florida. He served as Assistant County Solicitor until 1963, and from 1966-1967 he was General Counsel to the Florida State Turnpike Authority.
Frey's political life began when he joined the Orange County Young Republicans. He served the organization in several capacities and finally as its President. Frey became General Counsel of the Florida Federation of Young Republicans and Treasurer of the Republican Party in Florida. Within the Republican Party, he founded the Teen-age Republican Movement and a School of Politics and Government. He was elected to Congress in 1968 and served on the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, House Science and Technology Committee, the Republican Committee on Committees and the Republican Research Committee. His interests included Mobile Home Safety legislation, Noxious Weeds legislation, veterans affairs, youth development, environmental protection, and drug misuse prevention. The Watergate scandal dictated that he also interest himself in the activities of President Richard M. Nixon. In 1974, Time magazine listed Frey as one of the two-hundred rising leaders in the country.
Lou Frey did not run for re-election in 1978; instead, he decided to run for Governor of Florida. Although he did not win the primary election, he ran again for Governor in 1986 and for senator in 1980. Frey continued to support the Republican Party; he chaired the committee to elect Gerald R. Ford in Florida in the 1976 election and cochaired the 1996 Robert J. Dole campaign in Florida. In 2001, he continued to serve the state and the nation on the Florida Energy Commission and the Millennial Housing Commission. As an active member of the Association of Former Members of Congress, he has travelled the world on fact-finding missions and visited colleges to educate students about Congress. To aid this endeavour, he published Inside the House: Former Members Reveal How Congress Really Works. He founded the Lou Frey Institute of Politics at the University of Central Florida, and he is a regular political pundit on the local National Public Radio affiliate, WMFE.
In business, Frey cofounded Private TransAtlantic Telecommunication System Inc., a company that laid a transatlantic fiber optic cable. He has practised law with several firms; currently he is a partner with Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor and Reed in Orlando.
Congressman Louis (Lou) Frey, Jr. passed away peacefully on October 14th, 2019 at the age of 85. He is survived by his wife, Marcia and five children, Julia, Lynne, Louis III, Lauren and Christine. The funeral service was held at St. John Lutheran Church in Orlando, Florida on November 1st, 2019.
Extent
28.5 Linear Feet (34 Boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
These papers include correspondence, photographs, campaign materials, articles, minutes, printed government documents, framed materials, video cassette tapes and artifacts that document Lou Frey’s life of public service. In the 1960s, he served the Orange County Young Republicans in several capacities and finally as President of the organization. Florida's Republican Party benefitted from his expertise as General Counsel of the Florida Federation of Young Republicans and Treasurer of the Republican Party in Florida. Frey served ten years as a Congressional Representative for Central Florida from 1969-1979, which includes the time of the Watergate scandal. During his tenure, he served on the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, House Science and Technology Committee, the Republican Committee on Committees and the Republican Research Committee. Since then, Frey has served on the Florida Energy Commission and the Millennial Housing Commission. His membership of the Association of Former Members of Congress has taken him on fact-finding missions to other countries, and he initiated a project that created a book entitled Inside the House: Former Members Reveal How Congress Really Works. Frey founded the Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government at the University of Central Florida.
Arrangement Note
These papers are arranged in three series by chronological period.
Method of Acquisition
Lou Frey first donated materials to the University of Central Florida Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives in 2002 (CFM2002_01) and added further items in 2005 and 2006. Additional materials were added in 2004 (CFM2004_02) and 2008 (CFM2008_10).
Separated Materials
Audio cassette tapes of Florida Lifestyle Radio programs were separated into their own collection. Materials concerning the Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government were added to the Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government Collection.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Judith Beale; finding aid prepared by Judith Beale. Materials in ring binders were removed and placed in folders. Where dividers existed, they were replaced with acid free paper and labelled in the same manner. Where the creator had made notes on dividers or folders, those notes were retained. Binders of special interest were photographed and the images placed with the relevant materials. Surveys were removed from their bindings. A fax that was barely legible was retyped onto acid-free paper. Duplicates were returned to the donor. Rusted paper clips were removed. Minor repairs were carried out to some documents using paper mending tape. Photographs dispersed throughout the collection without context were grouped together; those that readily fell into subject areas were filed in the appropriate series. News clippings were removed from envelopes and foldered by the dates on the envelopes, which were not always accurate. Clippings dispersed through the collection were photocopied onto acid-free paper. Correspondence concerning several elections had been mixed together and given an index; the letters were divided among the relevant elections and the index removed. Some obsolete media have been reformatted onto CDs and DVDs; other obsolete media remains in the collection.
Subject
- Frey, Lou, 1934- (Person)
- United States Association of Former Members of Congress (Organization)
- United States. Congress (Organization)
- Title
- Lou Frey Papers
- Author
- Judith Beale
- Date
- 00/00/2006
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the UCF Special Collections Repository
Special Collections & University Archives
University of Central Florida Libraries
P.O. Box 162666
Orlando Florida 32816-2666 US
(407) 823-2576
speccoll@ucf.edu